Thursday, September 29, 2011

After the last 3...or is it 4 or 5? dark manis, I thought I had better break out some brighter colours...and colourful this is!

Starting at the thumb and going left to right, colours used are: OPI Purple with a Purpose, Misa Hanging With the Girls, OPI No Room for the Blues, OPI Jade is the New Black, and OPI Don't Know...Beets Me! All are two coats. The Misa yellow polish, I could have done a third just to even it out a bit, but knew I was going to stamp over it so left it at two.

Not exactly neon skittles or anything and somewhat darker, subdued skittles for fall (except that yellow which looks really bright!)....but is there such a thing as subdued skittles? :) Maybe pastel skittles, but I don't think this would qualify as subdued lol! In fact, these skittles got a lot of attention when I was out and about doing errands this morning. Everyone loved it and I got a lot of compliments on it....and I think I may have turned a few gals onto stamping who were facinated with what was on my nails! It was kinda odd being at the teller in not one but two banks telling several ladies gathered around the booth the basic concept of what is stamping and how to do it, where to buy supplies locally and online, answering all their questions, giving them names to google, you tube etc etc. Not the first time I've done this either....my nails are a travelling billboard for stamping! lol!

Stamped with Konad white special polish using Big Sdp I plate.

After I did the stamping, I thought it lacked something.....and while I really wanted to stamp an image over top of this in a solid image in a colour like black, at 1:40 am when doing my nails last night (correction, this morning!) , I guess the creative side of my brain was already asleep so I ultimately decided to add a coat of Cover Girl Goddess which happen to be sitting out at my nail station.

Thank you to a awesome swap pal for introducing this great polish into my life as it's a perfect holo glitter when you want a little holo sparkle, but not too much.

I'm not sure if I'll have another post before my birthday giveaway ends on October 1st so last call to go here if you want to check it out! And thank you again to everyone who has commented on the form...I've been reading them all and your feedback is appreciated!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I just realized that my last few mani's have been on the dark side...black sparkle, grey/black matte, dark purple sparkle and now grey. When I did some of these mani's, there was some beautiful sunny weather so it's not like the weather is dictating what's on my nails. It just seems that these are the colours that my eye is gravitating to lately so I hope these dark mani's aren't boring you!

This is the mani I did a couple nights ago. Base is Misa Working Hard or Hardly Working; two coats.

While this grey is a good neutral base for stamping and I would consider using it again, I had a hard time managing the brush for the application. I'm surmising I just got a bottle with a bad brush as I've used Misa polishes several times before and never had a problem.

Stamped with Konad black and white special polishes using IP Big SdP I.

Just to be a little different, added LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited on the thumb. This is one of the polishes included as part of my current giveaway here.

Just before topping the mani off with SV, added accent dots using the black and white special polish.

Here's a rare pix of my right hand. Just thought I'd share as its a slightly different look.

So does this mani work for you? lol! It does for me!

It's getting down to the wire for my giveaway which ends on October 1st. If you're interested in checking it out, please go here!

Monday, September 26, 2011

You may have heard or know from your own polish purchases that Anna Sui polishes are rose scented...which is why this rose mani smells like roses! This is my #1 Anna Sui lemming, #003.

When I first opened the bottle of polish, it looked like the Anna Sui was a little on the sheer side so I first did a one coat of Sally Hansen Black Out. I was pretty pleased on how well one coat covered for a base coat and will keep this in mind instead of using the harder to get (for me), more expensive Illamasqua Boosh.

Topped with one coat of Anna Sui #003. I took a couple pix; here's one in the sunlight where you can see the tiny holographic glitter, which is more obvious if you click and enlarge pix.

This pix was taken in the shade.

Stamped with Nicole by OPI Give Me the First Dance using SdP A04. This pix is in the shade.

While I purposely chose this silver for stamping versus my regular silver stamping polish, Nicole by OPI Positive Energy as I didn't want that chrome-like finish, I had a hard time removing the polish around my cuticles as I had ran out of acetone and there was so much glitter-like particles from the stamping, so cleanup wasn't the best. I took this pix the next morning after most of the glitter had worn off.

Here's a bottle pix of Anna Sui #003...unless you are in bright sunlight, the holo isn't that obvious.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

This mani is from a few weeks ago when I was yet again experimenting with layering and stamping. Started with two coats of Precision Twilight Zone. This is a dark purple polish with holographic glitter.

Bottle pix (overexposed; it really is darker in real life as you can see from pix above).

Added a coat of OPI DS Shimmer.I wish I could edit pix or photoshop or something as I would photoshop out that hangnail. Sorry! They are always magnified in macro :(

Then experimented with some stamping using fauxand IP A43 with Konad pastel violet special polish. The thumb is double stamped as I tried another stamping polish first but now I can't remember which one. I didn't use it anyway as it was too faint.

Lastly added some dots with Konad princess special polish in Chic Blue.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Have the leaves started turning in your area yet? Just this past week or so, they started to turn where I live. So fall was the inspiration for this mani.

A little different eh?

Started with a base of Orly Iron Butterfly, which was from their Matte Metallic collex. This is one coat....I was just too tired to do a second as it was 1 am when I was doing this mani, which is around my usual time for finally getting time in my day (or night?) to do them lately.

Stamped using CND chrome polishes in Copper, Silver and Gold. All of these chromes work really well for stamping.

I really liked this combination of using a matte base with the chrome polishes and have already thought of a few different manis that I could recycle this look, using other plates and themes.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

My stamping nemesis is french tips. I can never get them 100%...or even 90% for that matter! One problem is that I feel that the french tip stamping looks nicer on square-ish shaped nails, which mine are not so they always look off. I never get them all on straight nor a uniform width. Nev-er. My nails are getting a length that I thought I'd soon should be filing them down a bit but before I do, I have enough length to again attempt a french tip without having it go halfway down my nails...one of the downfalls of having small nails. This is what I came up with.

Base coat is two coats of Quo by Orly Celestial Star. While there was good coverage with two coats, with the pix you can see some VNL which does not appear in real life.

I was iffy on the stamping right from the get go so did my thumb nail first using Big SdP H. I thought if I fail at it, then I can do something else on the rest of the nails. But I lined it up pretty good.

So proceeded on the rest of my nails. Did the pinky and middle finger. Doing OK. Onto the index finger. Of course. Index finger is too thick. *sigh*. Can never get them all matched. *sigh*. Decided on using Big SdP A as an accent on the last nail, as this image is the same design as the tip but in a full nail image.

At this point, I've gone too far to remove the design and its far too late at night to start another mani. So I thought I'd add some flower accents to be a distraction against the stamping. Used the flowers in SdP E. Silver stamping polish used is Nicole by OPI Positive Energy. The silver foil contrasted well with the blue foil. To finish it off, I added a couple swirls of holographic glitter.

The great thing about polishing and stamping is that you can try, try again.....practise makes perfect and just another excuse to change your mani!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

My latest polish finding obsession has been trying to track down the Le Chat/Dare to Wear Dollhouse Collection. I remember visiting a polish supply place in the spring that had the box sets of D2W so I thought I'd go back to see if the Dollhouse Collection was there. Unfortunately, they no longer sell the box sets but while I was there, I browsed through the polishes and seen some older Cosmo polishes. This polish caught my eye.

Cosmo One Track Mind. Absolute hotness! Love! Love! Love! this polish!! This is two coats. If you are a lover of pink, this is absolute perfection. Great application, fabulous colour and a bargain......did I already say I love this polish? Needless to say, I'm going back to buy several backups. While I have several Cosmo polishes as they have some great sheer polishes that I thought would be perfect for layering experiements, this is the first time I've actually used one. I don't think it will be too long before I try some more colours....I got several polishes in coral, pink, magenta, and red when I was there....I can only hope they are all this stunning.

I chose the pink base just to showcase a polish in my giveway as I had not yet posted pix of it and wanted to do so before my giveaway ends. While it pained me to cover this up, I did with a coat of LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited.

Still pretty fabulous! I wore this combination for three days which is a long time for me lately. I didn't want to take it off....and when I did finally take it off, it was just as the day I polished my nails...no chips or fading.

There's still plenty of time to enter my latest giveaway which ends October 1st. If you haven't entered yet and would like to check it out, please go here!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

I was so jealous of all the gals who went to the Cosmoprof convention. It was fabulous to see all the blog postings showing the upcoming collections including the new ones from Color Club. (Sign me up if you need a Canadian delegate!!)

Color Club is pretty reclusive in my area...only one or two places sell them or if they are finally sold as box sets at Winners wayyyy after they have been released. There is one store in my area that sells them randomly and when I went to the mall earlier this week, I stopped by to see if there was anything new. All four of the new Color Collections were there and all the shelves were fully stocked as they had just arrived at the store...I was like a kid in the candy store! I got most of the Back to Boho Collection, and all the Beyond the Mistletoe, Backstage Pass and Foiled collections. (Foiled looks like they will stamp well; have to try this soon!)

While there were some awesome polishes to choose from, I thought I'd try out Shabby Drab first and because it was calling for some sunny skies, decided to use a holo polish for stamping. Here's mani in progress. Two coats of Shabby Drab. Wonderful application and beautiful dusty colour, perfect for the cooler weather we've been having.

Stamped using China Glaze LOL using SdP 34.

I got to thinking that this looks mighty familiar....so went thru my stash and came across Zoya Caitlyn. These are the bottle shots. Verryyyy close. When I did a test swatch, Caitlyn was just ever so slightly darker.

Here's a pix the next day in sunlight. The holo is a little more visible.

It seems like there are lots of collections set to be released soon. What one are you waiting for?

Friday, September 16, 2011

....and far too many pictures of it! This past weekend, I thought I'd do my nails while sitting on the deck, along with reading a book in between coats. I was away for the weekend but my weekends are usually pretty busy even though I'm suppose to be at the cottage *relaxing*. It was the first time in a long time that I could just sit there, relax, enjoy the view and read. It was a perfect day; not too hot, not too cold and sunny. This is what I ended up with.

Mani in progress; two coats of Misa Glitz, Glamour, Smile for the Camera. Judging from these pix, it seems to have me the dreaded lobster hands! Oh well! I never let this bother me or discourage me from using a polish and certainly not in the case, as it is very pretty.

I took a couple pix; the one above is in sunlight; the one below is in the shade.

Then stamped with SdP 38 using Konad special polish in black.

Lastly, added a few dots using Nicole by OPI Postive Energy (and if you see a few dots on my thumb in the other pix, it was because I was undecided if I was going to use the black stamping polish and I was trying out the end result look before I finished the mani!).

I took a couple pix; the one above is in sunlight; the one below is in the shade.

My weekends away are drawing to a close for another year as we usually close up the weekend after Thanksgiving (and that's in October in Canada!). I sure hope that this weekend has good relaxing on the deck, looking at the view, reading a book, doing your nails-weather again!

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About Me

I discovered Konad a few years ago and it has captivated me ever since! I have a large polish and plate stash that keeps on growing! The biggest challenge I have lately is...what polish with what plate!
If you're interested in a polish swap, or want to contact me, I can be reached at: mrsrexy at gmail dot com.